Kanti W Janis, Bookworm Rebel

In the Kanti W Janis dictionary, knowledge will protect against injustice. Reading will free the mind.

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Kanti W Janis read in Tebet, South Jakarta, Wednesday (17/4/2024).

A room full of books is actually the freest place for Kanti W Janis (39). His head thinks freely and the results are woven into reflections that are based on knowledge. Kanti believed that people who like to read are those whose minds are the freest.

The dialogue with Kanti takes place in a room where all the walls have bookcases that rise from floor to ceiling. There are at least 11 levels on the steel shelf. This shelf was specially ordered by Kanti and his partner, Wien Muldian, when they founded the Reading library in Tebet.

"There are more than 20,000 book titles. Initially, 90 percent of the collection belonged to Mr. Wien's personal collection. Then, people started donating and we also purchased new ones," said Kanti in Jakarta on Wednesday (17/4/2024).

The library that opened in 2022 is quite popular among young people in Jakarta. Although it is called a library, Kanti and Wien actually created Baca di Tebet as a relaxed meeting space. While most libraries usually prohibit eating and drinking, Baca di Tebet actually allows it. Visitors are also allowed to have conversations.

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Kanti W Janis, Wednesday (17/4/2024).

It's so fun that visitors don't just come to read. There were also people working there, chatting, and even taking pre-wedding photos. It is not uncommon for Baca in Tebet to become a forum for public discussion of various issues, from education to agrarian conflicts.

"This means that the library feels gloomy, boring, and you can't chat," he said. "The library is not a place to store books, but to preserve knowledge. These books are useless if no one reads them and if they are not discussed.”

The library has always been Kanti's favorite place. He definitely comes to the library during school breaks to read Five Friends, encyclopedias, Bobo magazines, novels by NH Dini, or Buku Pintar .

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The interest in reading grows naturally. Their parents enjoy reading, but never force their children to do so. Instead, they are taken to bookstores or book fairs every weekend. In the children's eyes, going to the book market is just as fun as playing in the amusement park.

The "games" in the book allow Kanti to freely fantasize. His imagination flowed freely until it finally materialized into the fictional book Frans and Balerina. He also wrote Saraswati—his first novel—which made Kanti a nominee for the Khatulistiwa Literary Award (now Kusala Literary Award) in 2007.

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Kanti W Janis read in Tebet, South Jakarta, Wednesday (17/4/2024).

Currently he has published five fiction books and several compilation books. But perhaps what is most impressive is Farmer's Colon Ideals. Kanti made 12 years of research into fiction about the friendship of three middle school teenagers with different aspirations. One of the characters dreams of becoming a farmer.

Kanti remembered the words of her late father, Roy BB Janis. He said that being a farmer is a noble profession because it provides food for many people. Unfortunately, the fate of farmers in this country with fertile land is not always fortunate. Even this profession is not always given attention.

"If there is no one willing to be a farmer, does that mean we have to import food? If even for our stomachs we depend on other nations, where is our sovereignty?" said Kanti.

Questioning power

After reading a book about the social contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Kanti learned that the concepts of economics and politics are actually intertwined. A country can prosper if both are managed correctly.

Unfortunately, economics is often understood as just a market. Capitalism. Economic activity is based on profits while ignoring social and cultural conditions of the community that are asked to fulfill market demands.

Economy fundamentally also concerns the management of the country's natural resources. Deciding who is trusted to manage natural resources is certainly not separated from political discourse. However, only power politics that stand out in this country.

"Indonesia is always said to be a wealthy country with abundant natural resources, so why are there still poor people? That means there is a monopoly in resource management," said Kanti, who is also a lawyer.

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Kanti W Janis, Wednesday (17/4/2024).

He longs for justice that seems almost impossible to attain. His eyes witness much injustice, power plays, and human neglect in preserving the environment that is the source of life for the community.

If you don't believe it, take a look at the case of the rejection of a cement factory in the Kendeng Mountains, Rembang, Central Java, and the rejection of a gold mine in the Sangihe Islands, North Sulawesi. Both of them make Kanti's heart sad mixed with frustration. Both have already damaged the environment, and the legal process has made people shake their heads in disbelief.

Kanti was involved in the legal process in both cases as a lawyer. Coincidentally, she has a friend in Rembang who will be adversely affected by the karst area damaged by the factory. She is not willing to let that happen.

”Just Idefendother people. Can't my defend myself?” said Kanti, who finally entered the world of politics after diligently advocating for the Kendeng issue.

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Dream since childhood

Since junior high school, Kanti has actually wanted to become a policy maker. She realizes that many social issues can be addressed through the systems created by policy makers.

"I used to like collecting donations from friends, and then making gifts for orphanages and nursing homes. When it comes again next year, how come, it's still the same, even there are more people?” he said. “It turns out that charity was really wrong. A lot of people are put there as, like, mascots.”

In addition to becoming a policymaker, young Kanti also wants to pursue a profession that defends others when she grows up. Kanti has never been comfortable with oppression and injustice since she was a child. Perhaps this is because young Kanti is often harassed by her friends for being too critical and protesting frequently. To protect her harassed friends, Kanti is not hesitant to beat up the offender.

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Kanti W Janis read in Tebet, South Jakarta, Wednesday (17/4/2024).

These seeds are what led Kanti to her current work: as a lawyer, writer, and sometimes painter. On her skeptical side, she realizes that dreams of justice will be difficult to achieve because the law can be bent with money and power. The only way to fight back is through intelligence and independence of thought.

"I, that, want Indonesian people to know their rights, be smart, intelligent, have the courage to be themselves. "If at school we are dictated to, fed, then the library is a place where we learn to think independently," said Kanti.

Kanti W Janis

Born: Jakarta, January 17 1985

Occupation: writer and advocate

Education:

- Faculty of Law, Atma Jaya Indonesian Catholic University

- LLM Program, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands, Department of International Law and International Organization Law (2007-2008)

- Special Education for the Peradi Advocate Profession (2009)

Job:

- Novel writer since 2006-present

- CV Boelat Makmur, owner and manager of Boelat Cafe 2003-2006

- Robean-Janis and Associates Law Firm, partner (2012-present)

- Secretariat of the President's Special Staff Office (2016-2019)

- Jakarta Library Council (2019-2022)

- Chairman of the Indonesian Nation Writers Cooperative (2021-present)

- Treasurer of the Nusantara Fermentation Movement Cooperative/Fermenusa (2021-present)

- Presidium of the Indonesian Political Women's Caucus-KPPI (2021-present)

- Presidium for Advocacy and Law of the Alinea Writers Association (2022-present)

- Founder and manager of library and reading meeting room in Tebet (2022-present)

- Management of the PDI Perjuangan Central Research Agency (2016-present)